An Impatient Patient
by WriteChristineR
Summary: With his youngest daughter starting first grade, Rick is looking forward to making the transition from full-time dad back to NYPD consultant. But a mishap might lead to a change of plans.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Castle. I would like to own a castle, or maybe live in one at some point, but sadly that's not the case either.

**A/N: **I started this story quite awhile ago, but for whatever reason it took me some time to finish. Point of interest, this falls within the same headcanon as "Diving In" and "The Kid Whisperer," which has officially been dubbed "The Marleighverse." Enjoy. :)

* * *

"I can't believe our girl's starting first grade today," Rick mused. "She's growing up so fast."

Kate smiled. "I'd think you'd be used to it by now. Alexis is already grown up."

He groaned. "Don't remind me. But Marleigh's different, she's my youngest. My baby. She's not supposed to ever grow up."

"Too bad you don't have any control over that." Kate smirked.

"We could ship her off to Neverland."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you can't tell me you're not the least bit nostalgic. She's your daughter, too."

"Maybe a little."

"Uh-huh. I thought so. But you know what's great about Marleigh starting school?"

Kate feigned cluelessness. "I don't know, what? It's not like you've been talking about this for the past six months or anything."

"I'm not going to apologize for being excited. It's been ages since I've been able to spend the days with you at the Twelfth, solving cases and chasing bad guys. Can you blame me for wanting to spend time with people who aren't six?"

She laughed. "It's not like we never go out."

"I know. And I love being here with Marleigh during the day, you know I do. But I miss the Twelfth, with the action and the suspense, and I miss being your partner."

She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "You'll always be my partner."

"I know, but it's different when I'm not there all the time."

"We've missed you too. Now, go get Marleigh or we'll all be late."

"It's still early."

"Yeah, but if I know you, you're gonna want to take pictures for twenty minutes before we get out the door."

"Good point. Alright, I'll grab her."

He found his youngest daughter in her room, dressed in the first day of school outfit that Kate had helped her pick out, as well as a scarf that must have been stolen from her closet. It was wrapped around her neck at least three times and still dragged on the ground behind her.

"Don't I look _glamorous_, Daddy?" she asked when he walked in.

"Very glamorous, yes," he told her, trying not to laugh. "Where did you hear that word?"

"Gram," she said, very matter-of-factly.

"Of course. Come on, let's go downstairs and show Mommy."

"Okay." Marleigh grinned. "Can I fly?" she asked. "Since it _is _a special occasion?"

He smiled. "What kind of father would I be if I didn't let you fly downstairs on your first day of school?" He placed his hands on the little girl's waist and got ready to lift her up and run around the house with her making whooshing sounds, as was their custom, but he calculated that he'd have to do it a bit differently to keep the scarf from getting tangled. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready!"

"Let's go!"

He picked up the little girl, but before he could even raise her to shoulder-level he felt a shooting pain run up his back. He grimaced involuntarily. "Annnd down," he said, trying to keep his voice cheery. Thankfully he'd lifted Marleigh up from behind, so she hadn't been able to see his face. By the time she turned back around to face him, he'd pasted on an overly-bright smile, hoping to mask the pain. "I think you can walk downstairs today, baby," he said.

She frowned, more confused than disappointed. "Why?"

"Because you're a big girl now, and you can walk down the stairs all by yourself."

She wasn't buying it. "Okay," she said skeptically, "now how about the real reason?"

He rolled his eyes. "You have been spending entirely too much time with your mom. Come on, downstairs." He pushed her forward slightly and she obliged, starting for the stairs. He followed her gingerly, each step causing a fresh little jab of pain that he had to hide. If Kate found out what had happened, she almost definitely wouldn't let him shadow her today.

* * *

"What are you wearing?" Kate asked, laughing, as she saw her daughter and the giant scarf.

"_Glamorous,_ right?"

"Oh, very glamorous. But you can't wear that to school."

"Why not?"

"Because it's mine. And it's a wool scarf, it's for winter. It's too warm outside for that."

Marleigh pouted and started to unravel it. "Fine. But can I wear your sunglasses instead?"

She bit her lip, thinking that she should probably put her foot down, but it was so hard to say no to her daughter. And she knew she had an old pair of sunglasses in her purse that she hardly wore. "Okay. But only because it's a special occasion."

As she opened her purse, she noticed Rick finally catching up to Marleigh at a pace that was much too slow for his usual standards. "What's up with you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something's wrong with Daddy, but he doesn't want us to know," Marleigh said quickly, perceptive as ever. "I think he hurt himself picking me up."

"Oh yeah?" She looked at her husband for confirmation.

"I'm fine," he protested with a smile that was clearly false.

"Uh-huh. What did you do?"

"Nothing. Marleigh, keep the scarf on for a sec, I wanna get a picture of you and Mommy with it." He reached for his phone in his pocket and winced.

"You're so _not_ fine. What happened?"

"I just tweaked my back a little, it's no big deal."

"You can barely walk."

"I can walk fine. See?" He took three tiny steps forward.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, completely fine." She pulled one of the kitchen stools behind him so he wouldn't have to go any further. "Sit."

He complied, holding his back very straight. It looked comically proper, and she might've laughed if she hadn't realized what kind of pain he must have been in to prompt him to sit that way.

"Tell you what," she sighed, "I'll go get your video camera and some pain killers. Just don't move. I don't know what you did, but I don't want you doing any more damage."

He pouted but nodded, and she went to get what she'd promised. Nothing could ever be simple.

* * *

She tried to focus on the simple task of driving her daughter to school, but her thoughts were distracted. Getting out of the house had been a struggle. Rick had fought her tooth and nail to come along, and she felt terribly about denying him the chance to see his daughter off on her first day of school. Still, she'd finally managed to convince him that with the way he was moving, if they waited for him Marleigh would almost certainly be late, and that really wouldn't be the best way for her to begin her first day. So she'd let him take a bunch of pictures and a short video from his stool, helped him to the couch (over his protests that he didn't need help), and Marleigh had hugged and kissed him goodbye. He'd made her promise that she wouldn't go to work without him, and she'd agreed, although her reasons were different from what she was sure he had in mind.

"Mommy?" Marleigh asked, jarring her from her thoughts.

"What's up, sweetheart?"

"Is it my fault that Daddy got hurt?"

Kate frowned. "No, baby, of course not. Why would you think that?"

"Because I asked him to make me fly, and that's when he hurt his back."

"That doesn't mean it's your fault," she assured her daughter. "You guys have done that a hundred times, and it's always been okay."

Marleigh was still shaken. "So he's not okay now?"

"He'll be fine," Kate assured her, trying to sound confident. "Daddy's pretty tough, he'll get better fast. And I gave him some medicine before we left, so that should help him feel a little better."

"Is he still gonna pick me up from school?" Marleigh asked.

"I'm sure he'd love to. But I don't know. We'll have to see."

She chewed on her lip. "What if he doesn't?"

"Well then I will, or maybe your grandma or Alexis. Don't worry sweetie, someone will be there for you."

"Mommy?"

"Yeah?"

"If Daddy can't be there, can you? Please?"

She couldn't have refused even if she'd wanted to. This was the first hint of being nervous for her first day at a new school that her daughter had given, and she was not of a mind to ignore it. "Of course, baby. I'll be there."

"Good." She fiddled with the zipper on her brand new pink backpack. "Carter won't be in my class this year, right?"

Kate shook her head. "Not this year." It was something else she felt a little guilty about. Marleigh was the same age as one of Ryan and Jenny's boys, and they'd gone to preschool and Kindergarten together. It had always been a comfort to her to know that, no matter what happened, Marleigh would have at least one friend at school to fall back on. But now that she was going into first grade, Rick had insisted they transfer her to the private school that Alexis had attended, while Carter was going into public school. As he'd pointed out, even if Marleigh went to public school she wouldn't be able to stay with Carter, because with where they both lived they would've ended up in different schools anyway. "You'll still see him though," she assured her daughter. "On weekends, and maybe after school sometimes."

Marleigh nodded. "I know. But I don't know anyone at this school."

"No, but you'll meet people. You'll make friends." If there was one thing Kate knew she shouldn't worry about, it was this. Marleigh had inherited every ounce of her father's personality. She was friendly and sweet to everyone, and it was impossible not to like her.

Kate parked the car in front of the school. "We're here," she announced. Then she got out of the car, opened the back door for her daughter, and took her hand.

"Mommy?" Marleigh asked nervously.

"Mmhmm?"

"I wish Daddy was here."

_Me too_, she thought. But she gave her daughter's hand a gentle squeeze. "It's okay," she assured her. "I'm here. And you'll see Daddy right after school." She approached the first grade classroom and stopped just short of the door. There she bent down to get eye-level with her daughter. "Okay, big hug," she prompted.

Marleigh complied, throwing her arms around her mother with great force. When she finally pulled away, there were tears in the little girl's eyes, and Kate found herself having to hold back some of her own. She hadn't counted on becoming this sentimental. "Hey," she said, wiping a tear from the girl's cheek with her thumb. "This'll be great. You loved Kindergarten, this is just a little longer."

She nodded, sucking in her protruding bottom lip.

"And if you need anything, you just tell your teacher to let you call me. Or Daddy. You know all the numbers, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, let's go."

They were met at the classroom door by Marleigh's teacher, an older woman with gray hair and a kind face. She immediately guided Marleigh away from her mother, and, a little reluctantly, she let go of Kate's hand.

Marleigh looked back apprehensively and Kate gave her a reassuring smile. But before she knew it, the teacher was showing her to her desk, and she began chattering, a little nervously at first, to the little girl beside her, and seemed to forget that her mother was even there.

Kate took this as her cue to duck out of the classroom. She squeezed her eyes shut for a little longer than a blink as she walked, determined not to be one of those mothers who cried just because her child was starting school. It was a normal thing. It was a good thing. It certainly wasn't something to cry over. And she wasn't the kind of person who cried over much. So she didn't. She took a deep breath, went back to her car, and focused her worries, again, on her husband.

* * *

He smiled when he heard the door, having been half-afraid that his wife would abandon their agreement and go straight to the precinct from Marleigh's school. "How did she do?" he asked, without attempting to move from his position on the couch.

She smiled. "Great. She's gonna love it."

He nodded. "I know she will."

"Now what are we gonna do with you?" she asked, a little playfully, sitting down on the edge of the couch in front of where he was lying.

"You're gonna help me up and take me to the Twelfth," he said. He wasn't going to give in on this point. For months, they'd planned that today would be the day that he'd resume his shadowing, and nothing was going to change that now. Certainly not a ridiculous injury that shouldn't have even happened in the first place.

But Kate was just as stubborn as he was. "No way," she said with a roll of her eyes. "What if we get a case? You can barely walk, let alone run, and I'm not gonna let you get yourself killed."

"So I'll stay at the precinct and help with paperwork," he said. It was a definite compromise, but it was better than giving up entirely. "I don't wanna be stuck here by myself all day."

"No," she agreed, "I don't want to leave you alone either."

"Great, so take me with you."

"How about I take you to the doctor instead?"

He frowned. That certainly wasn't necessary. Sure it hurt, but all he needed was time to heal. And maybe a few more pain killers. "No way. I'm fine. And you have to go to work."

"Sit up."

"What?"

"If you're fine, then sit up."

To be honest, he really hadn't moved at all since Kate and Marleigh had left. He was reasonably comfortable lying down, and didn't see any reason to change that. He wasn't _sure_ that moving was going to be a painful experience, but he had a pretty good idea. Still, if that was the case, he couldn't let Kate know that and still have any chance of her agreeing to take him to the precinct. So he pulled himself up, trying not to look like he was doing it gingerly. But he hadn't been wrong. Even after the pills he'd taken, every movement seemed to re-aggravate the injured part of his back. "See?" he finally said, pasting a totally fabricated smile on his face. "I'm fine."

She sighed. "Uh-huh. Sure you are."

"Help me up."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to get up. You need to rest. Just relax for a little while."

"We need to go to work!"

"No we don't."

He scowled. "Well, you do. You're gonna be incredibly late. And I want to come."

"I'm not gonna be late. I called off."

"What?" He couldn't have heard that right. Kate _never_ called off, certainly not spontaneously.

"I called off," she repeated.

"Why?"

"So I could stay here and take care of you."

"I don't need to be taken care of."

"Sure you do."

"Look, Kate, it would be one thing if you were staying home to take care of Marleigh, but it's me. I'm a grown man. I can take care of myself."

"I've never had to stay home to take care of Marleigh because you've always been here to do it. I never miss work. I can afford to take a sick day every once in awhile. Remember how you said you missed being my partner?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's why I wanted to go to work with you today."

"I know that. But remember, the partner thing works both ways. I can tell you're in pain, no matter how hard you're trying to hide it from me, and I'm gonna be here to help you get through it. Okay?"

He pouted. "Okay. But I'd still rather go to the Twelfth with you." Maybe it was childish, but the idea of not being able to go to the precinct was a little easier to deal with if Kate didn't get to go either.

"I'd rather that too. But you're not in any shape to do that today, so we'll work with what we have. Now, talk to me. What exactly did you do?"

He sighed and conceded. "Marleigh wanted fly downstairs, you know, like we do, so I went to pick her up but the scarf was kind of in the way, so I must have gone in at a weird angle, and, I don't know, I guess I pulled something."

He tried to re-position himself, having found his last position more comfortable than this one, but felt a particularly strong twinge of pain and grimaced involuntarily. Now, apparently, it was Kate's turn to veil her expression. But her eyes gave her away. Pity. She was right that he didn't want her feeling bad for him, but after nearly ten years together they both should've known better than to try to hide anything from the other. It didn't work, hadn't since even before they'd become a couple. They knew each other far too well.

Still, he gave her this one. Her heart was in the right place and he'd officially given up the hope of doing any kind of police work today. He didn't like for her to see him in pain; he wanted to be stronger than that. But since he couldn't change the cards he'd been dealt, he thought that maybe it would be best, just for today, to fold.

"I'll give you a day," Kate finally said. "If you're not at least starting to feel better by tomorrow, you're seeing a doctor. Fair?"

He closed his eyes briefly, considering. Kate wasn't one to overreact, and she seemed genuinely worried. And even if appeasing her wasn't a motive, if he was still in this much pain tomorrow it probably wouldn't hurt to get a professional opinion. "Fair," he agreed.

She stroked his back with the palm of her hand, almost as if it had some kind of magical healing property. He wished that was the case, but seriously doubted it. "Where's it hurt?" she asked anyway.

"Lower down," he directed, and she moved her hand accordingly. "No, more than that." Her hand glided to the area where the pain was, but still didn't seem to get near it. "Yeah," he said, stopping her. "There. That whole area."

She started rubbing in a circular pattern, apparently testing the magical powers theory. "Does this help at all?"

"No," he admitted with a sigh. "Don't stop, though. I like it."

"I won't." He wasn't facing her, but could hear the gentle smile in her voice.

"Good."

"You wanna watch TV or something?"

"Not really. I'm good with the quiet. It's nice."

"You hungry?" she asked.

He chuckled, amused by her restlessness. That was supposed to be him, wasn't it? "Not yet. Just relax."

Still rubbing his back, she sighed. Even without seeing her face he could tell that something was bothering her, really bothering her, and he turned to meet her eyes. A fresh jab of pain went through his back and he was too preoccupied to stop himself from grimacing. But when he saw her face he felt his own relax into a different kind of frown. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't a 'nothing' sigh, that was a 'something is very wrong' sigh. Is Marleigh okay?"

Kate actually smiled, which relaxed him a little, although he didn't understand it. "She's fine," she said. "You're not."

He raised an eyebrow, not having expected this. He'd known that she was worried, but not to this extent. "Seriously? You're upset about _me_? I'm surprised you're not making fun of me for hurting myself trying to make my daughter a super hero."

She shrugged. "That starts as soon as you're better. Enjoy the reprieve."

But he couldn't do that. It wasn't normal. It didn't feel right. "I wish you wouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"And _I _wish you could move normally without being in a huge amount of pain, but obviously we can't always get what we wish for."

"Come here," he sighed. Who said he couldn't help her feel better while she was trying to take care of him?

She frowned. "Rick, I'm already right next to you. How much more 'here' does it get?"

"Well, I want to kiss you, but I don't think I can twist that way."

"Ah, so you want me to make it easier for you."

"Isn't that why you didn't go to work? So that you could take care of me?"

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind." But she was smiling, clearly not exactly against the idea, either.

Maybe he didn't have to fold. Maybe he could still play the hand he'd been dealt. "Well, you asked me if you could get me anything earlier. This is what I want. It'll make me feel much better."

She sighed, pretending to be put out, but shifted toward him, pressing her lips against his.

"Good," he teased when they paused for a breath. "Now, was that so hard?"

"It wasn't easy," she said, playing along, "but if I'm gonna take care of you, I guess I'll have to make some sacrifices."

"You're a good nurse," he whispered just before she resumed administering treatment.

* * *

It wasn't even remotely true. She was a terrible nurse, and she knew it. She didn't have the patience for it. She never had. And it didn't help that when one of the people she loved was less than a hundred percent, it made her very uncomfortable. She couldn't just sit there and watch. She wanted to do something to fix it. But she was no doctor, and even if she was, sometimes the only thing a person really needed was time. And she didn't like to wait.

Becoming a mother hadn't really helped, because every time Marleigh got sick it was Rick who took care of her. He was more than competent. She wasn't even close. Rick knew all of this, of course. At this point she doubted there was anything about her that he didn't know. But now it wasn't Marleigh who needed taken care of, it was him. He'd been humoring her all day, pretending that whatever she did was helping, even when it obviously wasn't, and it was annoying.

But finally she had an idea that she was pretty sure he'd like.

"Ready to go?" she asked, rather abruptly.

He frowned. "I thought we weren't going anywhere today?"

"I never said we weren't going _anywhere. _Just that we're not going to the precinct."

"What time is it?"

"Almost three. We're going to pick up Marleigh."

"She doesn't get out until four."

"Yeah, but you're slow today, and I don't want to be late picking her up on her first day."

"You mean I can come? I mean… I was planning on it, but I figured it would be a fight."

She shrugged. "I'm not in the mood. Let's go." Just to be difficult, she got up and started for the door. "You coming?"

He stared after her for a second, apparently weighing his options, and then sighed. "Will you help me up?"

"I thought you didn't need help," she teased.

"Just get over here."

She returned to the couch, wrapped an arm around his waist and, slowly, eased him up. "You okay?" she asked when they were both standing.

"Yeah." He nodded once, tightly. "Yeah, I'm good." He started toward the door.

"Easy."

"I know, I know."

They made it to the car gradually, stopping once so that he could regain his bearings. She helped him into the passenger seat, noticing how tightly he gripped her arm but not saying anything about it. She wasn't sure how they were going to do this on the way back to the loft with a six-year-old in tow, either, but she kept that to herself as well. Voicing these worries wasn't going to accomplish anything.

By the time they got through the Manhattan traffic to the school and found a place to park, there were already quite a few parents gathered outside waiting for their kids to emerge. Kate found them a bench, but she stood up as soon as the bell rang, wanting to make sure that Marleigh could see them.

It seemed like about a thousand kids ran out of the school building before she recognized anyone, but finally she saw her, standing beside another little girl as they scanned the sea of parents, the borrowed sunglasses taking up much of Marleigh's face. When she looked in their direction Kate waved, and Marleigh's face immediately lit up as she ran down the stairs.

Rick was still sitting, so Marleigh had almost reached them before she spotted him, but when she did, her speed doubled. "Daddy!" she squealed, running toward him. "You came!"

"Easy, honey," Kate warned.

Marleigh nodded, realizing her mistake, and approached her father a little more carefully.

"Of course I came," he said. "Do you really think I'm gonna miss your first day of school?"

"You missed this morning," Marleigh pointed out. She set her backpack beside the bench and climbed onto Rick's lap so that she could hug him, wrapping her arms around his neck with a surprising amount of gentleness for a six-year-old. "Are you better now?"

"Uh, no, not exactly." Seeing his daughter's face, he amended quickly. "But I will be soon, don't worry. Now, why don't you go give Mommy a hug? You're gonna make her feel left out."

Kate wasn't sure whether it was just an excuse to get the little girl off of his lap or not, but Marleigh nodded and jumped off, which made him wince, and threw her arms around her mother. "Thanks for picking me up, Mommy. Do you have to go back to work now?"

"No, I took the day off today. So… what do you think? Should we go get some ice cream before we go home?"

"Yeah!" She picked up her backpack and turned to Rick again. "Ice cream makes everything better," she told him earnestly.

He chuckled. "And wherever did you learn that?"

"You." She picked up her backpack again, suddenly very impatient. "Let's go!"

Rick managed to stand without asking for help, probably not wanting his daughter to see that he needed it. Kate indulged him for a few stiff steps, but it didn't take her long to decide that she couldn't stand watching him in pain without doing something to help, and ended up doing the same thing she'd done before, holding her arm across his back like a kind of human brace. Neither said anything, but she could tell that it helped, because he seemed to be able to walk a little more naturally.

Kate was aware of Marleigh watching as she followed them to the car. Marleigh was always watching. She was every bit as observant as her father and even more insightful, which was saying something. Marleigh herself said nothing now, but Kate knew that she would later.

* * *

It still hurt. He didn't really feel like it was getting any better. But he didn't necessarily want Marleigh to know that. He didn't want her to worry, but he couldn't completely hide the fact that he couldn't walk normally, or that even sitting in the car was painful.

Really, he just wanted to go home and lie back down on the couch, but Kate had suggested ice cream, and Marleigh was so excited about it now that he couldn't just say no. So he sat there in the front seat, trying without much success not to wince every time the car hit a bump.

They were waiting in line at the ice cream shop when a familiar little voice yelled, "Marleigh!"

She spun around, and was face to face with her friend Maya. Which could only mean…

"Well, well, how's the patient?"

He sighed. He'd been set up. "Hi, Lanie."

"So, tell me what exactly it is that you did?"

It took him a minute to arrange himself so that he was facing her, but when he did, he saw the mocking smirk on her face. It was somewhat refreshing to finally come across someone who wasn't feeling sorry for him, but it didn't exactly make him feel any better.

"I tried to pick Marleigh up, and… I don't know, I guess I tweaked something."

"I'd say so. Well, this is not my expertise, but Beckett asked me to take a look, so I will. If you were dead I could cut you open and tell you _exactly_ what's wrong, but I don't think she'll let me do that just yet."

"Not today," Kate said. "But next time he gets out his remote control helicopter when I'm trying to work, we'll discuss it."

"Hey," he protested without actually looking at his wife, not wanting to go to the effort of turning just to have to face Lanie again in a minute. "When did you call Lanie, anyway? I was with you all day."

"I didn't call, I texted," she said, a mischievous tone in her voice.

"I didn't even see you with your phone."

"Trained detective, Castle. Trained detective."

"Are you gonna fix him, Lanie?" Marleigh asked. Having known them her whole life, Marleigh was allowed to call most of her parents' friends by their first names.

"I'm just gonna give him a little check up, baby," she said. "Why don't you and Maya go play for a couple minutes, and then we'll get our ice cream?"

"Don't go too far," Castle warned as the girls started for the nearby swing set.

"We wouldn't go too far away from the ice cream," Marleigh called back, likely only half-kidding.

When the girls were out of earshot, the examination began. Lanie poked and prodded what seemed like every inch of his spinal cord, and tried to get him to bend different ways and tell her what hurt (nearly everything, it seemed to him). Kate alternated between watching them and watching the girls.

"Okay," Lanie finally said, gaining Kate's full attention. "I don't think it's a disc, which is good. I think he just pulled a muscle or maybe pinched a nerve. Which can hurt like hell, but it should heal on its own. If it doesn't get better in a few days you should take him to a doctor, but I'm pretty sure he'll live."

"I'm here too, you know," Rick cut in, perturbed that Lanie seemed to be addressing Kate exclusively.

"You're the patient," she argued. "You have no say in this. Beckett asked me to check you out, she's the caretaker, and she's the one I'm talking to."

He pouted. "Why can't I be my own caretaker?"

"Hey, if it had been up to you, you would've gone to the Twelfth today," Kate reminded him with a teasing grin. "Clearly you can't be making these decisions. But I'm glad you're gonna be okay." She kissed the top of his head. "I guess we'd better call the girls back."

"We did promise them ice cream," he pointed out. "I guess we'd better follow through."

"Marleigh, Maya, ice cream!" Kate called. That was all it took. Instantly they abandoned their swings and ran back over to the adults.

"How was the check-up?" Marleigh asked Lanie.

She smiled. "He's gonna be just fine, sweetie. Don't you worry."

Marleigh nodded. "Good." She turned to her parents. "Can I get rocky road?"

Castle grinned. "Absolutely."

* * *

In a moment of weakness, she'd promised Rick that she wouldn't go back to work until he could go with her. Normally she was a woman of her word, but this was one promise she hadn't been sure that she'd be able to keep. She'd assumed that she would quickly grow restless, worry about cases going unsolved without her there, and maybe even go as far as to sneak out in the morning before he woke up.

But she didn't. In fact, she found that while she was at home, she hardly thought of work at all. It was nice being able to pick her daughter up from school, to see her as soon as she got home, to help her with her homework (to whatever extent the always-independent Marleigh would allow), to have a few days' reprieve from thinking about murder, and, above all, to take care of her husband.

It turned out that she made a better nurse than she'd thought. Really, it didn't require much. Just being there, spending time with him, and occasionally bringing him something. She'd even go as far as to say it was enjoyable, especially when Marleigh was at school. They didn't get a whole lot of time to spend just the two of them anymore, and even when all they did was talk, it was nice. Of course, that wasn't always the only thing they did.

Lanie was right, though. Every day he got a little better, and by the following Monday, Kate declared him fit to go back to work with her, as long as he promised not to leave the precinct. Although he was walking and moving normally again, she still occasionally caught him wincing when he accidentally twisted in the wrong way, and she didn't want him overextending himself before he was ready.

The plan was to take Marleigh to school together in Kate's car, and then go straight from there to the precinct. Rick would leave early and take a cab to Marleigh's school when it was time to pick her up. But apparently Marleigh had other ideas.

"Can I take the bus home today?" she asked just as they were pulling up in front of the school.

"But I'm supposed pick you up today," Rick said, sounding a little hurt in a way that had nothing to do with his back.

"I know, but my friend Kayla rides the bus, and she said that if I did too, we could sit together. You'll still see me as soon as I get home, but this way you can stay at work with Mommy for longer."

He chuckled. "You make an excellent argument. It's okay with me if it's okay with your mom."

Kate nodded. "Sure, if you want to ride the bus, you can. But call us if you change your mind, okay?"

Marleigh nodded. "But I won't."

"Okay. Do you have a piece of paper so I can write a note to your teacher telling her that it's okay?"

She nodded and passed him a notebook and pencil that she took out of her backpack. He jotted the note, signed it, and handed it back to his daughter. "Have a good day."

She grinned. "I will. Bye!" Without another thought, she'd jumped out of the car and was running toward the building.

Rick shook his head. "See? I told you she'd love this school."

Kate nodded. "I don't think I ever disagreed. It's good to see her adjusting so quickly, though. It's still only the second week."

"Yeah, she'll be great."

"So, are you ready for your first official day back as a sidekick?"

"Sidekick?" he demanded, feigning outrage. "Sidekick? Why Detective Beckett, I am far more than a sidekick."

She shrugged. "Well, you were, but you've been off the job for awhile. Might have to earn back some of your credentials."

"And what exactly will that entail?"

"Quite a bit of paperwork, I think," she teased. "Plus some more of what we were doing last night."

"At the precinct?" His eyes widened hopefully.

"Nice try, but no. That'll be after work."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine." He leaned over to give her a peck on the cheek while she drove. "I still love you."

She smiled. "I love you, too. And I'll be glad to have you back. As my partner."

* * *

**A/N: **I actually don't have a whole lot to say about this one... but reviews are always nice. So leave me some. Please?

Thanks for reading!


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